The San Francisco Giants are committed to keeping All-Star right-hander Matt Cain in their talented rotation beyond 2012, and CEO and president Larry Baer said Thursday that serious conversations are ongoing with the pitcher’s representatives.

“We’re earnestly working with his agents … It wouldn’t be good to forecast it. All I know is there are discussions, and the discussions have been continuing.”

Cain is going to make a lot of money wherever he goes. But whether it pertains to Cain or to other players in the future, the Giants — and the rest of the NL West — is probably going to have to get used to the idea that, eventually, the Dodgers are going to start spending boatloads of money and behaving very much like the Yankees or the Red Sox.

If they want to compete when that happens, they need to start thinking about how to do that now. They can’t wait until they become the west coast version of the Orioles.